NDT Software for Tank Floor Inspection,
From MFL Scan to API 653 Decisions
Your scanner already collects the data. Mindslake builds the non-destructive testing software that sits on top of it: MFL tank floor scanning results turned into plate-level corrosion maps, API 653 remaining life for every plate, and repair layouts checked against the code. We have delivered tank floor inspection software for US and Middle East-based tank inspection technology companies, and we can build the same around your machine.
Nothing is cut and nothing is damaged. A magnet saturates the steel, the field leaks where metal is missing, and the sensors record it. Software turns that signal into indications on a plate.
Tank floor inspection software that shows every plate
For US and Middle East-based tank inspection technology companies, we built the software that turns an above-ground storage tank floor scan into something an inspector can read at a glance. The illustration below is generated to show how it works; it is not client data. Click a plate, or switch indication layers on and off.
Defect legend
Plate inspection
Click a plate to inspect it, or step through them:
The whole floor in 3D
Floor plates, annular plates and the shell drawn as one model that the inspector can orbit and zoom, with a 2D view and a single-plate 3D view one click away.
API 653 remaining life on every plate
Each plate is rated Good, Average, Poor or No data. The rating drives the plate's fill colour, its perimeter and its elevation, so the worst plates stand out from across the floor.
Eleven indication types, one legend
Weld remnant, mechanical dent, arc strike, patch plate, floating roof leg, weld defect, settlement location, vacuum breaker, underside indication, internal indication and inspector comments.
Plate inspection panel
Hover a plate to read its maximum signal, peak signal, API 653 life in years, life score and relative condition without leaving the floor view.
Select one plate or many
Click to select a plate and Ctrl/Cmd-click to build a multi-plate selection, then review the selected plates together.
Honest about missing data
Plates and annular plates that were not scanned are shown as "No scan" rather than given a colour they have not earned.
From your machine to a decision
MFL tank floor scanning produces signal data. An inspection report needs plates, indications, remaining life and a repair plan. This is the path between the two, and where our work sits on it.
1. Scanner output
The files your MFL floor scanner writes, in the format it already uses.
Your machine2. Plate layout
Scan results placed on the real floor: plates, annular ring and shell.
Delivered3. Indication map
Every indication typed, located on its plate and shown on one legend.
Delivered4. Remaining life
An API 653 life figure and score for each plate, colour-coded.
Delivered5. Repair check
Patch plates tested against API 653 geometry rules, one predicate at a time.
We can build6. Report
Drawings and findings with the measured value beside every limit.
We can buildAPI 653 patch plate rules: software that caters to tank bottom repair requirements
We can cater to the API 653 requirements for tank bottom repair in software. The standard (API Std 653, 5th Edition with Addendum 3, §9.11.1.1 to §9.11.1.3) limits the size, shape and position of welded-on patch plates, with stricter rules in the critical zone of the tank bottom. We can build API 653 inspection software that tests every patch plate against those rules, each as a check with a measured value, a limit and a pass or fail, working from your floor scan. Try the critical zone rules below.
Critical zone layout check
Illustrative| Rule | Measured | Limit | Result |
|---|
COMPLIANTEvery predicate passes. The clause list is attached to the drawing.
REVIEW_REQUIREDA rule is not met. API 653 allows such a patch only when an engineer experienced in storage tank design reviews and approves it, so the layout is flagged with the failed predicates attached, never silently discarded.
REPLACE_PLATEThe critical zone region cannot be patched within the rules. The recommendation becomes plate replacement instead of a non-compliant patch.
Field, critical zone or engineer's exception
A welded-on patch plate is classified before it is drawn: out in the field, inside the critical zone (within 3 in. / 75 mm of the shell), or an exception that needs an engineer's approval. The regime decides which rules apply.
Units are never mixed
API 653 pairs 12 in. with 300 mm, not 304.8 mm. Each rule is evaluated in the tank's own unit system with that system's own constants, so a converted number never fails a limit by a few millimetres.
Clause numbers follow the edition
Addendum 3 moved tank bottom repairs from §9.10 to §9.11. Citations are stored as edition, addendum and clause, and printed for the edition the owner has adopted.
Lap seams and three-plate laps
Rules for clearing or crossing lap seams, including the 45° minimum crossing angle, and for three-plate laps: cover the node properly, 12 in. along each weld leg, or stay 4 in. clear of it.
Minimum remaining thickness under the weld
At least 0.10 in. (2.5 mm) of bottom plate must remain under the attachment weld. With scan data, that turns patch placement into a routing problem that software can check along the whole perimeter.
What the code leaves open, the owner sets
Corner radius, "approximately parallel" and angle tolerances have no number in the code. They become documented, owner-set parameters that are published with the drawing.
| Constraint on a welded-on patch plate | USC | SI | Clause (5th Ed., Add. 3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum dimension when the patch overlaps a seam or an existing patch | 12 in. | 300 mm | 9.11.1.1 a |
| Minimum dimension for a small patch in the free field | 6 in. | 150 mm | 9.11.1.1 b |
| Patch edge beyond the corroded area | 2 in. | 50 mm | 9.11.1.1 b |
| Clearance from a bottom lap weld that the patch does not cross | 2 in. | 50 mm | 9.11.1.1 d |
| Clearance from a three-plate lap when crossing a seam | 4 in. | 100 mm | 9.11.1.1 f |
| Critical zone width, inward from the shell | 3 in. | 75 mm | 3.11 |
| Distance from the shell that requires a tombstone shape | 6 in. | 150 mm | 9.11.1.2 |
| Maximum patch dimension along the shell in the critical zone | 24 in. | 600 mm | 9.11.1.2 / Fig. 9.13 |
| Maximum patch thickness in the critical zone | ¼ in. | 6 mm | 9.11.1.2 |
| Remaining bottom thickness under the attachment weld | 0.10 in. | 2.5 mm | 9.11.1.2 / 4.4 |
Who this is for: tank inspection companies, API 653 inspectors' software teams, MFL scanner makers and terminal owners who want patch plate layouts, critical zone checks and tank bottom repair plans produced and verified by software instead of by hand. These rules are paraphrased from API Std 653 into a form that software can evaluate. Before a rule set drives production drawings, it should be checked against the licensed standard by an API 653 authorized inspector, including the edition and addenda your jurisdiction has adopted.
NDT software built around your machine
If your company makes or operates inspection equipment, the hardware is your strength and the software is where customers judge the result. We work from the data your machine already produces and build the layer your inspectors and your customers see.
Readers for your scanner's files
We can build importers for the native output of your MFL floor scanner, so no one re-keys readings or passes spreadsheets around.
Tank bottom corrosion mapping
Plate-level maps of the whole floor in 2D and 3D, with indications typed and placed, as in the work we have delivered.
Remaining life and corrosion rate
Remaining life calculation to API 653 for each plate, with corrosion rate in mpy, so the limiting plates and the next inspection interval are clear.
Code-checked repair layouts
A layout engine that proposes patch plates for API 653 and checks each one against the rule set above, reporting measured values beside limits.
Inspection reporting software
Reports, drawings and plate schedules generated from the same data the inspector reviewed, in your template and under your brand.
NDT data management
One place for every tank and every inspection, so results can be compared across intervals and across a whole terminal.
AI-assisted review
Models that suggest an indication type or flag unusual signal patterns for the inspector to confirm. The inspector stays the decision maker.
Asset integrity software, your label
The software can ship as part of your product, with your name on it. Our client work stays confidential.
Built with our AI and data teams
The same engineers behind our AI engineering work and our data engineering and analytics practice.
NDT data we work with
Each non-destructive testing method produces readings tied to a place on the asset. Software makes those readings useful: visualisation, defect mapping, trending between inspections, reporting and code checks.
Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL)
A magnet saturates the steel and sensors pick up the field that leaks where metal has been lost. Used on tank floors and pipelines. Our delivered work maps MFL tank floor data plate by plate with API 653 life.
Ultrasonic Testing (UT)
Sound pulses measure wall thickness directly. We can build software for UT data that stores thickness readings, sets them beside the MFL indications they confirm, and trends corrosion rate.
Phased Array UT (PAUT) & TOFD
Multi-element ultrasonic methods used mainly on welds. We can build software for PAUT and TOFD data, including C-scan visualisation and indication records.
Eddy Current Testing (ECT)
Induced currents reveal surface cracks and tube wall loss. We can build software for ECT data that maps findings to tubes or surfaces and reports them.
Radiographic Testing (RT)
X-ray and gamma images of welds and components, including digital radiography. We can build software for image review and AI-assisted defect detection. Related work: our X-ray AI project.
Visual Testing (VT), MT & PT
Visual, magnetic particle and penetrant findings from the field. We can build software that captures them as structured indications, as needed for the API 653 critical-zone weld checks.
Acoustic Emission (AE)
Sensors listen for active corrosion while the tank stays in service. We can build software for AE tank-floor screening data that ranks tanks for follow-up inspection.
Drone & robotic visual inspection
Cameras on drones and crawlers collect large image sets. We can build computer vision on inspection imagery to find and locate what an inspector should look at.
Mindslake builds software for inspection data; field inspection is performed by certified inspection companies.
Why inspection companies put software on top of their hardware
The floor at a glance
Storage tank inspection results that an owner understands in seconds, not after reading a table of readings.
Decisions that can be audited
Every verdict carries its clause, the measured value and the limit, so a reviewer can check it without re-deriving it.
Less time from scan to report
One data path from the machine to the report removes re-entry and the errors that come with it.
A product, not just a scanner
Good software is what your customers see every day. It is how the hardware's quality shows.
NDT software development for the Middle East and global companies
We deliver remotely from Bangalore, India, and our delivered tank inspection work was for companies in the United States and the Middle East. We take on NDT and tank inspection software projects for inspection companies, equipment makers and tank owners anywhere.
Middle East
Tank inspection software for inspection companies and terminal operators in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. Our working day overlaps closely with Gulf business hours.
North America and Europe
API 653 inspection software for teams in the United States, Canada, the UK and the EU, in USC or SI units to match the tank's original construction.
Global equipment makers
If you sell NDT machines worldwide, we can build the software that ships with them: one codebase, your brand, the unit systems and code editions your customers use.
Questions about NDT software and tank inspection
What is non-destructive testing (NDT)?
Non-destructive testing is a group of inspection methods that assess the condition of an asset without cutting into it or damaging it. Methods such as magnetic flux leakage, ultrasonic testing and radiography find corrosion, cracks and weld flaws while the steel stays intact. NDT software turns the readings those methods produce into maps, trends and reports.
How does MFL tank floor scanning work?
A magnetic flux leakage scanner magnetises the tank floor plate as it travels across it. Where corrosion has removed metal, some of the magnetic field leaks out of the plate and sensors on the scanner record that leakage as a signal. Software then places each signal on the floor layout so indications can be reviewed plate by plate, and ultrasonic thickness readings are typically used to confirm them.
What does API 653 require for tank bottom patch plates?
API 653 sets geometric limits on welded-on patch plates for tank bottoms. They cover minimum size, shape, clearance from lap seams and three-plate laps, and stricter rules inside the critical zone next to the shell. For example, a patch that overlaps a seam needs a 12 in. (300 mm) minimum dimension, and a patch in the critical zone is limited to 24 in. (600 mm) along the shell. A patch that does not meet the rules can still be used if an engineer experienced in storage tank design reviews and approves it.
How is remaining life of a tank bottom plate calculated?
Remaining life is the time until a plate reaches its minimum allowed thickness at the measured corrosion rate. It is worked out from the remaining thickness found by inspection, the minimum thickness API 653 allows, and the corrosion rate, usually stated in mils per year (mpy). Calculating it for each plate shows which parts of the floor limit the next inspection interval.
What is the critical zone of a tank bottom?
The critical zone is the part of the tank bottom within 3 in. (75 mm) of the inside edge of the shell, measured radially inward. Repairs there are more tightly restricted than on the rest of the floor. For instance, a patch plate within 6 in. (150 mm) of the shell must be tombstone-shaped, and its thickness in the critical zone is capped at 1/4 in. (6 mm).
Can NDT data from different methods (MFL, UT, PAUT) be combined in one system?
Yes. Each method produces readings tied to a location on the asset, so they can be registered to the same plate layout and reviewed together. For example, ultrasonic thickness readings can sit beside the MFL indications they confirm. Our delivered work is on MFL tank floor data; software for the other methods is something we can build.
Does Mindslake work with companies in the Middle East and other regions?
Yes. We deliver remotely from Bangalore, India, and our delivered tank inspection software was built for tank inspection technology companies in the United States and the Middle East. We take on NDT software projects for inspection companies, equipment makers and tank owners in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and worldwide.
Does Mindslake perform field inspections?
No. Mindslake builds software for inspection data; field inspection is performed by certified inspection companies.
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